System for storing automobiles



March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES Filed July 15, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 FUYAL /Y. A-J/BLET INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES Filed July 15, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 14 0mm. Pi /5457 INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES 7 She'etS -Sheet 3 Filed July 15, 1930 Harm, NH/QLZT .INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES Filed July 15, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932 R L T 1,851,262

SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES Filed July 15, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fa m1. NH/BLZT INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET 1,851;262

SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES Filed July 15, 1930 7 Sheets-Sheet a nw E 2 I J IQJYAL lQ/BLET INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 29, 1932. R. N. RIBLET SYSTEM FOR STORING AUTOMOBILES 7 Sheets-511991, 7

Filed July 15, 1930 ihwentor RHYAL /Y R/BLET Gttorneg Patented Mar. 29, 1932 UNITED STATES BOY AL N. RIBLE'I', OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON SYSTEM FOR STORING -AUTQMO.'BILES Application filed m 15,

My present invention relates to an improved system for storing automobiles by means of which the vehicles may with facility be stored in compact and orderly arrangement, and from which arrangement the individual cars may with equal facility be removed.

In carrying out my invention I utilize one or more floors of a suitable building, and upon each floor are compactly arranged rows of storage apparatus, some of which are rows of stationary stands, .while others are embodied in an endless conveyer or train of railway, wheeled trucks or carriages. One or more of the wheeled trucks may be used as a transfer truck or carriage for moving the vehicles to and from a stationary stand, as well as to and from turntables and other equipment embodied in the system of storage. The endless conveyer, or train of trucks may be used for transient or short-time storage, While the rows of stationary stands may be used for comparatively long-time storage.

All of the storage apparatus, including the wheeled trucks, transfer carriage, and stationary stands are tiltable irf'order that the automobile may be gravity-operated for shifting it from one apparatus to another, and suitable bumpers are employed for preventing excess gravity-propelled movement of the automobiles.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of arts as will hereinafter be more fully set forth and claimed. 7

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged according to the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a plan View, partly broken away, showing a floor space with the endless conveyer. rows of stationary stands, turntables, transfer carriage and otherinterior equipment for the building, and a two-way, exterior ramp for use when the building is more thanonestory high.

Figure 2 is an interior elevation of a multi 1930. Serial No. 468,001.

ple story building equipped with the storage system of my invention, a delivery wagon beingshown as discharging, under gravity, from the transfer carriage to a stationary stand in an intermediate row of stands, the its interior elevation of the building being taken at line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view, showing an out-goin vehicle being discharged under gravity from a tiltable storage stand to the 60 transfer carriage.

Figure 4 is a side view, partly broken away and looking from the left in Figure 5 showing one of the storage, wheeled trucks, and the draft cable for the endless conveyer that com- 66 prises the Wheeled trucks.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of one of the wheeled trucks on its track rails.

Figure 6 is an end view of the wheeled truck.

Figure 7 is an end view of the transfer carriage, showing its duplex bumper at opposite sides and the operating means therefor.

Figure 8 is a broken top plan view at the left end of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a sectional detail view of one of the bumpers, as at line 9-9 Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view at line 1010 of Figure 11 showing one of the jacks for tilting a storage device.

Figure 11 is a top plan view of one of the jacks that are distributed about the storage floor, in position to lift or elevate one end of a storage appliance for gravity-propulsion of a car. 85

Figure 12 is a diagrammatic view, showing by dotted lines, one of the storage stands tilted to discharge a car onto the transfer carriage, part of which is seen at the left.

Figure 13 is a top plan view, partly broken away of one of the turntables with its pneumatically actuated operating mechanism.

Figure 14 is a plan view of the reversible driving mechanism for the cable of the end- 95 less conveyer or movable, wheeled trucks.

Figure 15 is a side view of one of the cablegrips in open position.

Figure 16 is a face view of the cable grip of Figure 15, and Figure 17 is a perspec- 1 tive view of one of the identifying tags carried by the wheeled trucks. 0 0

Figure 18 is a diagrammatic view, with parts omitted for convenience of illustration, showing the arrangement of the cable and its driving means with relation to the train of trucks, and indicating several of the trucks by dotted lines.

Figure 19 is a detail view of the arran ement of the guide-pulleys for the cable y means of which thecabl-e is dropped away from the grips of the trucks, to permit passage of the trucks around the curved tracks at the driving end of the tracks.

Figure 20 is a detail view showing the relation of the tracks, truck wheels, grip and cable guide-pulleys.

In Figure 2 a building B is indicated, having the three floors 1, 2, and 3, two of which are occupied by the storage apparatus, and in the plan view the entrance to a floor is indicated at 4, while the exit is shown at 5. A ramp with down alley R and up alley R may be used between floors of the building, or a combination with elevators may be used. The floor space as seen in Figure 1 is occupied by two inside rows 6 and 7, and an outside row 8, of tiltable storage stands, and turntables as 9, 9, and 10 are used for reversing the positions of cars that are being brought in or taken out of storage.

Between the inner storage stands and the outer stands an endless conveyer or train of wheeled trucks, indicated as a whole by the letter T is used.

The two short, inner rows 6 and 7, and the long row 8 extending substantially around the room provide stationary tiltable stands for long time parking or storage of cars and other vehicles, while the wheeled trucks comprising the endless conveyer and more readily accessible are preferred for transient or short-time parking of the cars, delivery wagons, busses &C.

The wheeled trucks form a train that runs on the two traction rails 11, 11 which form an endless track for the train of trucks, and an inner, endless guide rail 12 at the approximate center of the track guide the trucks and prevents lateral displacement or derailing.

Asbest seen in Figure 5, each truck comprises a pair of spaced angle plates 13, 13, spaced apart and gaged to the wheels of the automotive vehicles, and the plates are of suitable width to accommodate the wheels of the automotive vehicles to be stored.

The angle plates are rigidly connected by end cross bars 14, and central cross bars 15 and 16, the latter having end holes 17 to provide means for flexible connecting or coupling the wheeled trucks one to another.

Each truck has a traction wheel 18 at each of its four corners, and also two pairs of guide rollers 19, all journaled in brackets as 20, but with the journal axleof the traction wheels in a horizontal plane and the journal axle of the guide rollers in a vertical plane. The wheels and rollers have plane or smooth treads, and rollers 19 have a tread of sufiicient width to hold the rollers in frictional contact with the guide rail 12, while either end of the truck is tilted, as indicated by dotted lines for the transfer carriage in Figure 3, or as indicated by full lines in Figure 2. When an out-going car, after a short-time parking or storage, is to be delivered to the exit turntable 10 from one of the wheeled trucks, the latter is tilted, by jacking up or lifting one end, thereby causing the car to roll by gravity off of the wheeled truck to the exit turntable, and the car then proceeds under power through the exit 5.

The whole train of trucks, including one or more trucks used and designated as transfer carriages, may be bodily moved on the tracks, and for this purpose each truck has a grip device, designated as a whole by the numeral 21 that co-acts with a draw cable 22.

As seen in Figure 5 these grip devices are located at the approximate center of the truck, and attached to one of the cross bars as 16. In Figures 15 and 16 it will be seen that each grip has an angle bracket 23 in upright position and riveted or bolted at 24 to the angle bar 16. At its upper end the bracket has a pair of bearing ears 25, and two grip levers 26 and 27 are suspended by the pivot pin 28 from the ears, while the levers are hinged together at 29. The free end of the lower lever 27 is designated as 30 and it is confined, but loosely, in an eye or loop 31 rigid with the bracket. The mouth of each grip is open to the outei' side of each truck, and the pivoted or hinged levers 26 and 27 are formed with gripping jaws 32 and 33 respectively for the cable 22. While the cable is slack it is retained in the jaws as in Figure 15, but when the cable is rendered taut, the pivoted grip is flexed from its open position of Figure 15, bending at the hinge 29, which swings to the right, and this action causes the two jaws 32 and 33 to grip the cable. Then, when the cable is moved, the trucks move with it. The loose arrangement of the end 30 of the lower lever in the loop or eye 31 permits the required freedom of movement of the grip as it closes on the cable.

Each of the storage truckscarries anidentifying tag or plate 34 with a number (as 11) in Figure 17, the tag being supported on a post or standard 35 and provided with a pointer 36. The stem 37 of the tag telescopes in a socket arm 38 secured to the truck, and a set screw 39 is used to hold the tag in adjusted position. Each of the pointers 36 is designed to co-act with a stationary indicator or pointer Z adjacent the entrance to the storage room. When the pointer of a truck registers with the stationary pointer Z, an in ication is made that a transfer carriage (one of the trucks) is positioned to deliver to or receive from one of the storage stands, a car, and of course all of the storage stands and trucks are numbered for identification.

The draw cable 22 is operated by power from a motor 40 indicated in Figure 14, and the shaft 41 of the motor has a drive pinion 42 for selected engagement with either of the bevel gears 43 and 44, which gears are provided with friction clutches 45 and 46 respectively. The gears with their clutches are mounted on clutch shafts 47 and 18 respectively and the shafts which are journaled in suitable bearings are each provided with a winding drum as 50 and 51. The clutches are controlled by a clutch lever 49, which is designed to throw out one clutch when it throws in the other, and by means of the lever the cable, passing around guide pulleys 52, may be driven in either forward or reverse direction for imparting movement to the train of trucks. When the cable is wound upon a drum its length or stretch, around the grips of the trucks, is contracted and the cable rendered taut, thus closing the grips on the cable as described, and causing the train to move with the cable.

The cable driving mechanism is located at one end of the train of trucks, and the trucks passing the driving mechanism are automatically freed from the cable as it pulls open the grips. Figures 18, 19, and 20 clearly indicate the arrangement of the cable by means of which the grips of the trucks are automatically and successively withdrawn from the cable 22 to permit the trucks to make the turn around the endless tracks at the driving end of the cable. In Figure 18 it will be seen that the two parallel ends of the cable pass beyond the curved end of the tracks 11, 11, and 12, and in order that the cable may be removed from the paths of the wheels and grips of the trucks T, to permit the trucks to pass around the curved end of the track, the two cable ends are guided to a lower level 'or plane than the operating or working plane of the cable. For this purpose I employ two pairs of guide pulleys 52a and 526 located between the intermediate rail 12 and the outer rail 11 of the endless track. The guide pulleys 52a are journaled at the upper ends of upright posts 520 and the pulleys 52?) are journaled on the posts at a lower level. The cable ends pass downwardly over the upper guide pulleys 52a and under the guide pulleys 52b, and the cable ends between pulleys 52b and 52- are thus lowered to permit the wheels 18 and 19 to follow the rails 11 and 12, without obstruction, around the curved end of the tracks, and the cable-grips on the trucks are also freed from obstruction as the trucks turn the curve.

One or more of the wheeled trucks, as 53 in Figures 3, 7, 8, 9, is equipped as, a transfer carriage, to transfer a car from the train of trucks to one of the long-time parking rows 6, 7, 8 and to transfer an out-going car from a storage stand in one of these rows, to a turntable 9 for turning the car, or to the exit turntable 10 in Figure 1.

The transfer carriage is constructed substantially similar to the wheeled-trucks and provided with wheels, rollers, and grip, similar to the wheeled storage trucks. But the transfer carriage has a dual arrangement of bumper that is manually controlled, while the storage truck has a single bumper at one side only.

Thus in Figures 4, 5, and 6, it will be seen that the stora e truck has two flexible strips as 54, secure at one end, 55, to the frame plates of the truck. These bumper strips are of canvas, leather belting, or similar flexible material and they are joined by a cross rod 56 passing through casings at the free ends of the bumper strips. The cross rod has a pair of rigid arms 57 at its ends, and these are pivoted at 58 in bracket arms 59 hin ed at 60 to the frame plates 13. The brac et arms and the arms 57, althou h hinged at 58, are held extended and normal y upright as in Figure 6, and a detent-lug 61 on the bracket arm engages the arm 57 to prevent outward folding of the bum er. The bumperstrips afford a cushion e ect for the wheels of a car when the wheels encounter the strips in Figure 6, and they act as a bumper to prevent excess movement of the car. When not needed the bumpers may be folded like a jackknife and lowered out of the way.

On the transfer carriage 53 of Figures 3, 7, 8, and 9, a pair of bumper strips 54 are secured by a wear plate 62 to the frame plates of the carriage, one pair being located at each side of the carriage. These flexible bumpers are supported by casings on a cross rod 63, one rod at each side of the carriage, and at the front and rear ends of the rods are fixed lever arms 64 mounted to oscillate with a rock shaft 65 journaled under the frame of the carriage. Each of the shafts has a rocker arm 66. and they are connected by a long link 67, and one of the rock shafts has a rock lever 68 rigid therewith which may be turned or swung, manually, to lower one bumper and raise the other bumper simultaneously. A usual rack bar 69 is provided for holding the lever in adjusted position. Thus, a car may enter or leave the carriage from either of its sides, and one of the bumpers is used to prevent displacement of the car from the carriage. The storage stands, or stationary parking devices in the inner with a bumper at one end only, that is, the

far end, as the car enters the parking device. In Figure 3 a stand is indicated in the row 8 and part of a stand 71 is indicated in the inner row 6, the transfer carriage 53 being shown as receiving a delivery wagon from the tilted stand 70.

To permit tilting of the stands, the near end or front end is pivoted at 72 in upright brackets 73 and the rear or far end of the stand may be raised, as indicated in Figure 3 by a jack designated as a whole by the numeral 74, positioned or located in position to engage under one of the cross bars 14 of the stand for elevating the stand.

The jacks are located adjacent the railway or tracks of the transfer carriage, in order, that either end of the latter may be tilted upwardl for the gravity-discharge of a. car from eit er side of the carriage.

Preferably the jacks are located in pits, as 75 (Fig. 10) in-the floor or ground, and each jack comprises an upright cylinder 76, open at its upper end, and fashioned with a flanged base 77 by which it is bolted to the bottom of the pit. A pipe 78 for supply of compressed air leads to an inlet port 7 9 opening into an air chamber 80 in the bottom head of the cylinder, and a piston or plunger 81 located in the cylinder is adapted to be lifted by air ressure beneath the piston, the usual packmg rings or gaskets 82 being used at the bottom of the piston to prevent escape of air pressure.

Near the upper end of the cylinder a vent port 83 is (provided in its wall for escape of compresse air when the piston reaches a predetermined height, thus preventing excessive lift of the piston. The piston or plunger is adapted to engage under one of the cross bars of the frame of a truck, carriage, or stand, and the three way cock (Fig. 13) 84 is used in all air pipes for employing the power of the compressed air in the pipe lines and for releasing the power, in usual way.

As indicated in Figure 1, all of the air pipes 78 are brought to a station, as 85, at the entrance to the storage room, and an attach or attendant is stationed at this point to control the operation of the pneumatic appliances of the system.

The turntables, as 9 and 10, are also equipped with bumpers to limit movement of cars received thereon, and these turntables are pneumatically operated, as indicated in Figure 13. The three-way cook or valve 84 controls movement of compressed air to' and from the opposite ends of the operating cylinder 86, through air pipes 87 and 88 connected to a suitable compressor, and within the cylinder :1 piston 89 is adapted to reciprocate longitudinally thereof. A cable 90 is connected at the opposite ends of the piston, and passes around guide pulleys 91 to an upright, rotary spindle or drum 92 located beneath and at the center of the turntable. The cable is wrapped around the spindle or drum so that the latter, and the table, are turned in forward and reverse directions, by admission of air to the alternate ends of the air cylinder.

From this description and my drawings it will be apparent that the system may be operated smoothly and without confusion or loss of time in handling in-coming and outgoing cars, as for instance, a car to be parked drives on the entrance stand A and is checked. It is then passed to the transfer carriage C, and may be delivered b the carriage to the next storage stand, as Or the train of trucks may be moved, and the carriage C with it, to transfer one of the cars to a stand in row 6 or in row 8, or to row 7. In discharging an automobile, the transfer carriage brings the automobile to position 0 for the out-going car, and the car is transferred to the turntable 10. If necessary, the car may be turned on the transfer table, and its driver then drives out through the exit 5 as indicated by the arrow. If the car is in proper position, it is driven directly from the turntable, without turning.

In this manner the attendant at the station may control air operated doors at spaces 4 and 5, and also control all of the air-operated appliances of the storage system.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A storage system comprising a double, inner row of storage stands, and a spaced, substantially endless outer row of stands. a railway train of storage trucks between the outer row and inner rows of stands, means for moving the train, means for gravity-discharging a car from a truck to a stand, and means for gravity-discharging a car from a stand to a truck.

2. Automobile storage embodying spaced rows of stands, an endless railway track between said rows of stands, an endless train of carriages, on the track, a draw-cable parallel with the major portion of the track. grips on the carriages for frictional engagement with the cable, .operating means for the cable whereby the grips are engaged therewith, means for automatically disengaging the grips from the cable to permit continuous trafiic of the carriages past the cable operating means, gravity discharge devices on the carriages, and gravity discharge devices on the stands.

3. Automobile storage embodying spaced rows of stands, an endless railway track between said rows of stands, an endless train of carriages on the track, grips on said carriages, a draw-cable parallel with a major portion of the tracks for frictional engagement with the grips, a winding drum for each end of the cable, a motor for said drums, clutch devices controlling the movement of ROYAL N. RIBLET. 

